"Ringgggg."
The bell rang, signaling the end of the school day and the start of club activities. Kyle navigated through the bustling hallway, ignoring the pointing and whispering of his classmates. Reaching the classroom, he grabbed his schoolbag, ready to leave.
He didn't take a look at Yuki, the girl he had confessed to, because his mind was elsewhere. As he walked past her, his thoughts were consumed by the traverse to this new space, the fusion of identities, the car accident, and the fate of Georgia and the child.
'Did they traverse too, or is it only me?' Kyle wondered internally.
Smirking, Kyle found it ridiculous that a shameless scum like him, after his death and traversing space, actually remembered his wife and child.
"Hey, did you hear about Kyle?" a classmate whispered.
"Yeah, I can't believe he got rejected in front of everyone," another replied.
"What a loser," someone snickered.
Kyle ignored the chatter and continued on his way. There was no use thinking about it. He had no idea why he was transported to the body of a Tokyo high school student. Finding a bench in the park, he sat down and took out his smartphone. Checking the date, he saw it was the same day as his car accident: July 7, 2016.
He dialed all the phone numbers he could remember, but none of the voices that answered were familiar.
"Not the same world?" Kyle muttered, full of doubts.
He was now in Tokyo, his wallet empty. Although his parents had left him money, he could only access it at the age of 18 or in dire need, making it impossible for him to return to New York to confirm his suspicions for the time being.
As he pondered his situation, two students passing by noticed him.
"Hey, isn't that Kyle? The guy who got publicly rejected?" one of them whispered.
"Yeah, poor guy. He's been acting strange," the other replied.
Kyle sighed and decided he needed to be completely sure whether he had traversed to an alternate reality. Accepting his new identity, he thought, 'I am Kyle Ryder now, a high school student in Tokyo.'
Leaning back on the bench, Kyle closed his eyes, trying to process the day's events. He knew he had to adapt to this new life and find a way to uncover the truth behind his traverse. But for now, he would take it one step at a time.
After an hour passed, Kyle was heading towards his home. Suddenly, he felt as if there were two individuals standing in front of him, talking in a rather strange manner.
"He can't see it."
"He can see it."
"He can't see."
"Too bad, he could have seen me and I could have eaten him."
The strange conversation drew Kyle's attention. He focused his eyes slightly and saw clearly the two individuals standing in front of him.
An eyeball dangled from its socket, swinging with each twitch, dripping dark blood. A rotting tongue hung out, twitching grotesquely. One of the figures had its head nearly severed, hanging by shreds of decayed flesh, with exposed bone visible. Their bodies were horrific, covered in deep wounds and drenched in blood. Skin hung in ragged strips, revealing decayed muscle underneath. Their eyes glowed with a sinister light, full of rage and torment.
They moved with jerky, unnatural motions, as if puppets controlled by a malevolent force. The air around them grew icy cold, and a sense of dread filled the space. It felt like pure fear and death were closing in from all sides.
Their ghastly faces were nightmare-inducing, making Kyle's spine tingle and his breath hitch.
It's a ghost!
Kyle felt a shock of electricity throughout his body, his nerves instantly tensed up, and something seemed to be stuck in his throat. He was enveloped by an unprecedented sense of terror and fear.
"He can see us! HE CAN SEE US!"
Kyle's heart roared madly with fear. The smell of blood filled his nostrils, and the horrifying scene before him repeatedly washed away his psychological defenses.
"He can see! Eat him!"
"EAT HIM! EAT HIM!"
'What is this? Pretend, I need to pretend that I can't see them.'
Kyle didn't understand whether this sentence meant what he thought, but he had no choice at this moment.
'Unfocus my eyes, and keep walking. Yes, I need to do that,' Kyle thought to himself.
"WE CAN EAT HIM!"
'I can't see them, I can't,' Kyle tried to calm himself, but the bloody faces of the two individuals came closer, less than a centimeter away from his face. Their drooping eyeballs touched his skin.
Kyle didn't dare to move his face in the slightest. His eyes were empty and lifeless, pretending to have the same dazed look as before. It was as if he hadn't seen the two individuals at all. He was afraid that even the slightest tremor on his face would reveal that he could see them.
Five seconds passed...
The two faces were still there.
Ten seconds passed...
Still there.
Twenty seconds passed...
"He can't see."
"He can't see."
"It's a pity he can't see."
"What a pity, I can't eat him."
The two individuals repeated this as they left.
"Hoo… Hoo… Hoo…"
After surviving the disaster, Kyle was breathing heavily. His legs were shaking uncontrollably, and he felt a strong urge to urinate.
Ridiculous! This is ridiculous! What is going on in this world?!
Go home! No! I have to go home!
Fear triggered Kyle's most instinctive behavior as a human being, which was to find his own nest when afraid. Kyle ran home like crazy. He took the key to open the door, walked in, and returned to his nest. Only then did the fear in his heart subside a little.
However…
"Kyle, welcome home."
The house was filled with his mother's warm greetings, echoing through the familiar walls that Kyle had come to call his own. Yet, as he stood there, a chill ran down his spine, as if he had stumbled into an icy cellar instead of his childhood refuge.
Am I not an orphan?